Hello dear readers. I hope you've been doing well since my last update. I hope you enjoy this one.
xemtlenc: That is quite intentional of an appearance as a nod to him. We're doing the same thing Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft did with their writing of nodding to each other's universes.
Challenge King: Thanks. I hope you like this chapter.
Guest: Sam has grown a lot over the course of this series even if she backslides into her old behavior. Jade and Trina care about them and don't want either of them heartbroken—okay, Trina's not as concerned about Beck's feelings, but she's far from heartless in the situation.
Twilight Warrior 627: It's setup for bigger things down the line, so I hope I pull off the foundation. I'm glad you liked the chapter.
Fanfic-Reader-88: Art imitating life… The problem with either of them pushing Tori to trying anything with Jonathan makes her look as the bad one that is two-timing Beck when there is not concrete evidence that Beck is doing anything with his costars or any fan.
Those traits aren't Sam's strong suits, but she's developed over the last few years in that universe. Losing Brad was a huge wakeup call and add to the fact that Carly is off somewhere in Europe, that'll change someone.
Xemtlenc: Sam is a stubborn girl and it takes a stubborn Cat to get her to talk. It would have been easier with Carly, which of course brings up the whole Cat vs. Carly thing when it comes to their friendship. Ian looks at her through the eyes of a child and past all that negative mess.
When you get a chance, check out PD31's update to 'When Something Better Comes Along' for some Freddie/Tori storytelling and Fanfic-Reader-88s 'Got me a Model', both right now rated T.
Rating: T Language
Chapter 20
Nozu
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Jade held Ian's hand as she led the group inside the familiar establishment that had been a favorite of the group during high school. Jonathan glanced around, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. He had been in other Japanese places in New York, but this was an odd sense that it was geared towards a younger cliental than he expected for the given cuisine.
Mrs. Lee saw them immediately, not just by the number entering at once, but their familiarity, and approached them. She was eager to please them with any request, especially since two of them were musical sensations and she couldn't afford such criticism from such superstars. Fortunately, she wouldn't have to bite her tongue with Tori's absence as despite the time that had passed and her daughter finally making it into Hollywood Arts, she still held a minor grudge against the pop singer. She wasn't entirely pleased to see Freddie and who she referred to as his 'sidekick' since they weren't intimidated by her and frightened the mess out of Kwakoo, but she could be pleasant enough to them.
"Hello Jade! How are you?"
Jade politely greeted the restaurant owner, "Evening Mrs. Lee. I'm fine. I hope you're doing well, your business is doing fine?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Everything is great. I hope we can make your dinner a pleasant one." She turned her attention to the others and enthusiastically greeted them, "Hello Mister Benson, Miss Valentine…"
The rock star politely asked, "I hope so. Could we have a table for eight?"
The restaurant owner eager to please answered, "Of course, of course, right this way." She led them to two free tables to the right wall from the entrance. She motioned over to one of her waiters to push three of the triangle tables together for them in the shape of an isosceles trapezoid.
The group took their seats around the table, Robbie and Cat on the right end, Dusty and Sam on the left end, Freddie and Jade with Ian sitting between them on the longest side that allowed them to look at the circular bar and Jon across from his brother and the stepsiblings.
The waiters quickly set about taking their drink orders, passing out menus and if they were ready to order their respective meals since nearly all of them were regulars. After they took the orders, they scurried about to fulfill several orders, the couples already knowing what they wanted. Jonathan, Dusty and Sam continued to examine the possible options.
Jonathan glanced over the menu and commented, "It's been a while since I've been to a Japanese restaurant. How's the food? Does anyone have any recommendations?"
Dusty answered with a cursory glance at the menu, "It's edible and I suggested the miso soup, but at least you don't have to worry about them spitting in your food." He glanced over to the preparation area in the inner-ring of the circular bar where he noticed Kwakoo among a number of the food preparers.
Jonathan knotted his brow and hastily questioned, "Why do you have to worry about it?"
Dusty nodded his head over to Kwakoo and answered, "Because I had to knock out the big guy over there last year."
"Why?"
"Because Mrs. Lee, the woman we just met and owner of the place, kidnapped Tori and Robbie one time and Freddie and I had to come over here and get them. She was upset that Robbie was a little short for the lunch they had, so she wouldn't let them leave. Freddie saw Tori's tweet and we came over here to get them. He tried to stop us… he failed."
Robbie popped up, "They made us cut up squid to pay for it."
Dusty shook his head and muttered with a narrow gaze at the ventriloquist, "He gives you a weapon and you don't turn it on him to try to leave?"
Robbie looked at the Southern teenager flabbergasted and answered in an over dramatic manner of waving a hand around, "What did you expect me to do with it? Swing it about and force him to let us leave?"
Dusty looked back just as confused in his inability to understand Robbie's mindset as the ventriloquist was to understand the former Northridge student's mindset. "When he refuses to let you or Tori leave, then yes, you threaten him with it. You protect yourself when someone wants to do you physical harm."
The glasses wearing curly haired teenager directed an irritated expression to the teenager sitting across the table.
Dusty shook his head. "Don't get mad at me because you couldn't find your spine to defend yourself or Tori."
"That's not fair," Cat was quick to defend her boyfriend.
Dusty parroted a line of Jade's from last year, "How is the truth not fair? He had a weapon and a means to leave, but he didn't take it. If he was a pacifist, that would be one thing, but he's not and I'll let you draw your own conclusions about him. He was willing to go two-on-one last year over that whole hambone thing with you. That leaves me confused."
He looked to Robbie and finished, "One day, one day you're going to have to stand up and be a King David… except for the whole part of getting your friend murdered so you can steal his wife. Don't, don't do that part, but Robbie… come on?"
The two stared off with one another, driving up the tension of the gathering. The others looked on in silence while Cat looked furiously at her ex-boyfriend (of a week), not realizing that Dusty was attempting to give Robbie a good swift kick as he had done with her after the Cow-Wow dance to finally stop her from just stringing Robbie along.
Jonathan passed a concerned glance towards Dusty and rhetorically asked, "You have a propensity for violence, don't you?"
Dusty looked away from Robbie and snorted out, "Now where have I heard that before?"
The younger Benson looked to the others for explanation as at least Sam and to a lesser extent Freddie chuckled.
The teenager from the South dryly answered as he looked to his menu, "Violence is the ultimate arbiter and some of us aren't willing to bend over."
Jonathan questioned almost in a mocking manner, "So you think violence is an answer? It usually causes more problems than it solves as my father would say."
"The planet is ruled by force, either soft or hard force. I see it as the option of last result in most cases, but there are times where it has to be the first, but you know that," he answered with a smugly challenging voice at the end.
Jonathan raised a questioning eyebrow. "I do?"
"Yes, how quick was it for you to make Beck eat the floor at the hospital?"
The others glanced uncomfortable to one another, except for Sam.
The younger Benson son hastily retorted, "He swung on me, so of course I defended myself."
"Yes, which would have been a simple assault if he hit you, but you decided to defend yourself. They committed a felony against them and defending one's self in that case would have been wrong?"
Jonathan tightened his smile before answering, "I see your point."
The inspiring musician directed his attention to Jade and asked, "If that is the case with Tori and Robbie then why are we here?"
Jade easily answered, "The food is good and they have karaoke. If she and Robbie weren't willing to press charges, so that's their problem. Besides, we can't sing anymore at karaoke our old favorite place because we're too old. It's an eighteen and under place."
"Karaoke? Really?"
Cat happily answered, "Yeah, we love it."
Jonathan gave the girls questionable looks and asked mildly perplexed, "But you're professional singers."
Jade casually replied, "We are, but we love to sing and sometimes the intimacy of a small place like this is just as exhilarating as performing in front of thousands."
"So we'll get a show before the end of the night?"
"It was the plan."
One of the waiters returned with the groups drinks and took the orders of the rest.
The conversation turned to how classes were going for some or how music writing was progressing as the first orders arrived and the rest waited for their meals. Jade helped Ian out with his kid chopsticks, something Robbie was envious of since he still hadn't gotten the hang of using real ones, but he wasn't going to endure the ridicule of any neighboring children. Freddie between bites of his food checked his phone for a text reply of something he had sent off before leaving the wharf. A knowing smile formed on his lips, drawing a curious eyebrow from Jade.
Sam looked at her food, something that she had ordered before, but didn't find it all that appealing. Dusty scooted over some of his soup, something that was surprisingly good, and offered to share. The on-again/off-again antagonists silently shared the soup, drawing a curious look from Jonathan.
The person Freddie had been texting finally arrived after another few minutes into the meal. He motioned her over, but Sam wasn't as subtle as she spotted her and shouted, "Yo Shelby!"
The fighter returned with a big grin at the familiar faces and walked over to the group.
Jonathan raised an eyebrow and barely kept his jaw from dropping. The approaching lovely teenager looked practically identically to Tori, but her hair was a little shorter resting over her bare shoulders.
She wore an off the shoulder thin material crop-top that loosely hung on her and stopped about an inch or two above her bellybutton and showed off her neck, bare shoulders and upper chest just short of showing any cleavage. She wore hip-hugging blue jeans to further show off her bellybutton and tone and blemish free abdomen, something her friends knew she enjoyed showing off.
Freddie got up from his seat and walked around the table to greet the champion. Shelby opened her arms and pulled him into a quick hug. They pulled apart and Freddie warmly greeted her, "I'm glad you could make it."
"I'm glad you texted." She looked to Sam and added, "If I would have known about the jump I would have come to see it."
Sam waved her off, "It's alright—it was awesome though, but I wouldn't have paid forty bucks to see me to jump."
Shelby shared a fist bump with Sam then turned to Jade. "Hey rock star. Good to have you back."
"Thanks. It's been a month, but I'm still enjoying being back."
The dark haired fighter directed a sweet smile to Ian. "Hey little guy. I think you've grown since the last time I saw you."
He bashfully smiled at the attention from the pretty girl, having learned early on that attention from pretty girls was a good thing.
Dusty idly commented, "This is a surprise."
"It's a surprised to see you too. I heard you were doing some traveling."
"Yeah, just ah… seeing the world a little bit, but I'm back."
His answer caused Jonathan to raise an eyebrow as he couldn't recall exactly what Dusty was doing since he wasn't going to school or involved with the entertainment industry. Something about the medical industry if he recalled.
Jade asked, "Dusty's right with the surprise. How did you know we were here?"
"Freddie gave me a text and thought I should swing by if I had the chance. I've been out of town and you've been on tour so…"
Freddie picked up, "So I took the liberty of texting Shelby before we left the wharf. We hadn't hung out in a while and Shelby was curious to meet Jon."
The others immediately—Robbie was slow on the realization—understood the meaning. Jonathan was slightly startled and stunned what Freddie had apparently pulled.
Dusty glanced away and shook his head.
The CFC champion smiled to the slightly curly haired young man named Benson sitting in front of her. "So I'm taking it that you're Jonathan?"
"Ah, yes hi."
Shelby smirked and playfully picked, "I take it that my appearance caught you?"
"You can say that."
"Because Tori's resemblance of me or how I look?"
Jonathan licked his lips and laughed with a hint of nervousness, "A little bit of both. You look quite nice."
"I try. People get the wrong impressions of me. They think because I'm a fighter that I can't look se—pretty," Shelby caught herself with Ian's presence.
Robbie goofily remarked, "We won't forget."
Sam spared a harsh glance towards Robbie, reminding him that Cat was his girlfriend and not to be making such comments to other girls.
Dusty came to the defense of Robbie with a laughing remark, "Oh puppet boy is right; we won't forget how pretty you are."
"Thank you…" she began, but knotted her brow when she caught sight of Dusty's damaged jacket and asked, "What happened to your shoulder?"
Dusty teased with a charming smile and raised eyebrow, "Do you really want to know?"
The CFC champion returned with just as enticing a smile and answered, "I wouldn't have asked, if I didn't want to know."
"Oh, you want me to tell you another story? I haven't told you one of those in a while." He motioned towards one of the other tables. "Let Shelby pull up a chair and I can enchant you all with a tale of high adventure."
A waiter brought a seat and set it beside Jonathan. Shelby thanked him then took a seat next to the younger Benson. The waiter pulled out a notepad and quickly took the lovely girl's order.
Dusty took a sip from his drink then picked up a chopstick and asked, "Okay, who is ready to hear a tale of adventure?"
Ian eagerly shot up his hand.
The son of an angel smiled to the child and answered, "Okay little man, you want a story, I'll give you a story. It really begins in Egypt where I met this beautiful redheaded cupid…"
As Dusty started telling his story with supposedly meeting the Horseman of War, Shelby leaned closed to Jonathan as if to get closer to listen to Dusty's story as the younger Benson son was sitting between them, though the action could also be a signal that it would be okay if he rested his arm on the top of the backrest of his chair. He initially hesitated, but the closeness threatened to put his arm to sleep, so he pulled his arm around to rest on the chair.
Over the next twenty minutes, Dusty continued a fantastic story involving fallen angels and demons and of all things, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Dusty waved around a chopstick as if he was in a sword duel as he finished his tale of an epic battle between himself and a fallen angel with a battleaxe. He held up the chopstick and ominously finished, "And that is how I got this tear into my shoulder… and saved the world."
Ian clapped, thoroughly entertained with the story.
Dusty bowed his head and waved the chopstick like an orchestra conductor's baton. "Thank you, thank you."
Jonathan joined in the laughter, pulling his arm from behind Shelby and clapping his hands, "You are a fantastic storyteller. You make it sound like it really happened."
Cat and Robbie looked thoroughly entertained with the story, but Jade and Freddie looked almost horrified—and Sam mildly concerned—as they knew they just heard an edited version of what happened to their friend while he was gone.
Dusty smirked and took a quick sip of his drink before answering, "I've been told that I should write professional, but you know… I'm so busy with things."
Jonathan started clicking his fingers, finally recalling what Freddie had mentioned about Dusty, "Your medical project. You're hoping to cure all diseases in the world."
"Give me time… give me time," Dusty answered with a knowing smile.
The college freshman raised an eyebrow, unsure how serious he was of his goal or maybe just a little delusional in trying to accomplish such a thing.
Shelby pointed out, "Jonathan's right about the talent, but if you published that, some might get offended. You have to be careful with telling stories involving modern religion."
"Well, to the faithful, angels, fallen angels and demons are real and they have warred with one another. Even if I wasn't aiming for the Christian segment, they read all sorts of Christian fiction that is frankly nonsense, so I could have an audience with that segment, but there is always Gothic Horror and Urban Fantasy audiences. Cat just did a single for the soundtrack to that movie about a girl that found out her parents were monster hunters and she's a nephil—not a true one, but close enough for story purposes—and that started out as a book."
Shelby nodded along, accepting his solution to that potential problem.
The others minus Jonathan were trying to keep various expressions off their respective faces about the irony of Cat recording such a song in light of the circumstances of a member to their group.
Sam randomly asked while finishing the rest of Dusty's soup, "What happened to the ax?"
"What?"
"His ax, what happened to it?"
"Oh, I kept it. I can't let something like that just lay around. Besides, it's just a really cool weapon. They've never been too imaginative with their weapons, so the sheer uniqueness of it is cool."
Jonathan joked, "Imaginative? You sound like you know what they carry."
Ian popped up, "Dusty has a sword of an angel."
The college freshman raised an eyebrow while Shelby thought he was adorable.
Dusty knowingly smiled and gave the child a wink before answering the Manhattanite, "Well, the Bible does say what they carry, but I don't recall axes. There is historical art for other weapons, but that's from human interpretation, so seeing an ax is surprising."
Jonathan licked his lips and shook his head. "You really are imaginative. I'd love to see anything you could manage to put on screen."
"You never know, you never know, but enough about me. I think I've dominated this conversation enough." Dusty quickly turned his attention and wondered aloud, "So Shelby, when's the next time you're going to be in the ring?"
Shelby took a bite of her sushi and finished chewing before answering, "I'm looking at a fight around Thanksgiving."
Freddie followed up, "Expedition or a title shot?"
"Expedition it looks like. They're still putting the card together. They're going to have men and women's matches. They're going to have it at the sports center here in L.A."
The Southern teenager laughed, "Maybe you can get Carly back into the ring. That was fun to watch."
Sam dryly remarked, "That was terrifying for Carly."
Dusty glanced at the blonde and softly laughed, "But it was still fun to watch though."
"She just grabbed my leg and held onto me for the entire time. That wasn't a fight."
"Hey, you're the one that was going to use the fight as an excuse for payback against what happened with your grandmother instead of womanning up and just directly comforting Carly. At that point, she had to use anything she could have to survive against you. It amazes me how forgiven she was at such a stunt, but then again, I understand it is a trait from her late-mother."
Freddie was quick to come to her defense, "That was Nevel's fault. He's the one that tric—"
"He didn't hold a gun to her head to make her seek revenge in such a way that would have allowed her to publicly get away with it. He's responsible for his actions and she's responsible for hers."
Freddie was about to retort, but Jade spoke up to disagree, "Shelby wouldn't have gotten away with it." She looked to the fighter and spoke between bites of her sushi, "You wouldn't have a career after that fight if Carly had really gotten hurt."
By this point, Shelby was looking mildly embarrassed with the incident where the responsibility had been shifted entirely
"Really? And how would that be?"
"Her father would have made sure you never walked again."
Shelby laughed thinking Jade was joking, but the casual expression on the musician's face told her that she wasn't joking. The fighter's expression slipped into one of mild worry.
Jade snorted out a laugh before taking a sip of her drink, "The Colonel will say he's not the best father, but don't ever doubt his love for his children."
Shelby took a few seconds to recover and as her natural competitiveness kicked in, softly retorted, "Does that include you?"
The table went dead silence for several seconds. Dusty snorted and half-smirked while Jonathan looked mildly confused as he wasn't entirely sure of the turn in the conversation.
However, Jade appeared unfazed by the question and really didn't miss a beat while finishing her meal. "Yes, of course."
Jonathan felt he was out of the loop. He had vaguely heard about her mother starting a relationship with her longtime friend that happened to be the father of Carly and Spencer, but he had never really given it much thought. However, he felt a greater need to join his brother in attempting defend Shelby, either out of courtesy or his subconscious being fooled into seeing her as Tori, than to clarify the relationship of Jade's mother and perhaps future stepfather. He responded with a perhaps a cheap shot, "Do you mean taking responsibility as you did with breaking up with Heather?"
Freddie and especially Jade didn't approve of such a shot towards their friend with glances towards the New Yorker.
Dusty smiled, giving the younger Benson a higher notch of respect for speaking his mind, and easily responded, "Oh don't you worry… I'll pay for that and I'll pay for that dearly. We all answer for our actions at some point. Some just take longer than others."
Jonathan knotted his brow, completely surprised at how willing he was to admit his fault and not shying from paying for it. He figured due to his experience growing up that someone that was ready point out taking responsibility for one's actions would be one of the first that would try to shake off any attempt to take any on him or herself. He saw Dusty as a very peculiar individual that he couldn't quite peg.
The only one that really didn't seem surprised was Shelby as the times she had spoken off and on since their meeting last year, she found Dusty's bluntness of what he really thought and consistent across the board with his opinions, even if they led to some uncomfortable conclusions about himself to be refreshing.
Jade frowned with a look in her eyes that showed her disapproval of him thinking such a thing about himself. Freddie may have wanted to respect Dusty's wishes, but that comment was the last straw for Jade. She would find out what really happened between the couple and do something to help them.
Sam of all people remarked between her bites of food to lighten the conversation and get it back on track to the original topic, "You just want to see hot chicks fight."
Dusty held up his hands and readily admitted, "Hey, I have never denied that Carly was my celebrity crush and seeing her in that outfit…" He whistled then remarked, "I was attached at the time, but I wasn't blind. It wasn't any different than when Jo had her crushes on Orlando Blum and Johnny Depp—three out of four of you like the guy at this very moment—and I didn't have any problem with that crush. It's not like Shelby doesn't know what she looks like in her fight outfit and that a bit of the audience tune in for that."
The CFC champion pointed out, "I would like to be respected for my fighting ability."
"You can be respected and look mighty pretty at the same time. Wasn't that the point of your outfit tonight?"
Sam pointed to the doppelganger with a chizz-eating grin and pointed out, "He's got you there."
Shelby raised a finger to counter, but quickly lowered her hand and stopped herself from opening her mouth. She tipped her head in acknowledgement to Dusty.
The Southern teenager playfully ripped the blonde with her elbow, "Thanks for agreeing with me."
The blonde sighed and rolled her eyes at how infuriating he could be in challenging her at every turn yet still randomly being nice to her. Talk about mixed signals.
Dusty moved the conversation back to Shelby and asked, "In all seriousness, they're going try to compete against football?"
"We're growing in popularity, so it is a risk."
Dusty remarked with a half laugh while poking at the remains of his sushi, "Isn't that the truth? They're trying to sissify everything else in life that there needs to be something manly in life."
Shelby glanced around the tables and asked, "If you're in town, I'm sure I could swing enough tickets or at least get them dirt cheap." She turned a hopeful gaze to Jonathan to see if he was interested in attending.
Jonathan paused at her gaze, momentarily set back on his preverbal heels.
Freddie answered, "I guess it depends on our plans for it. I know Jade and I are staying in town for Thanksgiving, but I don't know how busy it will be with Jade's extended family, my mom coming down, probably Spencer and hopefully Carly being back—if I'll be swamped with homework on top of it all, so we can't make any promises."
Jade was quick to add, "But we'll see."
The New York bashfully smiled and remarked, "It sounds like fun."
Shelby teased, "You want to see a good fight?"
"My father is into boxing, so I got into it. We've trained on a semi-regular basis while I was in high school. We've been to some boxing matches and a few of the men CFC fights, but I assume that I would be flying back to New York for Thanksgiving, so I can't make any promises."
Shelby brightened up turning to a topic of conversation they were interest even if it sounded like he couldn't make this particular match. "Oh? Do you still get to practice since you got to L.A.?"
"Unfortunately no. I'm still trying to get a feeling for college and the life in L.A., so I haven't set aside the time."
"Freddie and I train at a local favorite for MMA fighters. Why don't you come by one afternoon? You can see if you like the place."
Jonathan glanced to his unacknowledged brother, seeing a look that suggested that it was entirely up to him what he decided. "Thanks. I just might take you up on that offer."
Shelby gave him an eerily similar smile to Tori's smile, believing—perhaps hoping that she was enticing him a little to give her a chance.
The others discussed their possible schedules for Thanksgiving: Cat and Robbie staying in L.A. and hopefully being able to see the fight, Sam readily agreed to show up and Dusty said he would check what plans his father had since they could possibly go to Texas this year for the holiday to meet up with his Cousin Mary and that part of the family.
After the discussion, Jade thought it was time to get to one of the reasons Cat picked this restaurant. She stood up and flashed him a teasing smile. "Hey, why don't you put that voice of yours to use for some karaoke?"
Jonathan's mouth dropped, taken aback by the suggestion and instinctively wanting to say no.
Shelby playfully nudged him, "Oh come on. I want to hear you sing."
The handsome lean teenager glanced to the others. Cat and Freddie gave him supportive looks to join the profession singer on the mini-stage.
The college freshman sighed then relented by getting up and following Jade to the stage. The pair glanced over the choices for nearly a minute before Jonathan found a song that he would enjoy singing. He pointed to the song to the DJ and Jade. The DJ brought the song up while Jade smiled in approval.
The pair each took a microphone and walked onto stage.
Jonathan nervously grinned and began with microphone in hand, "This is my first time here and first time singing in public. I was dragged up here by the very lovely and talented Jade West, so we're going to sing a duet. It's called, 'Somewhere Only We Know'.
The name was instantly recognizable to a number of the patrons and some of them pulled out their cell phones and started recording the pair before a word was uttered.
The music started playing and Jonathan began with a creeping smile as he glanced to Jade, "I walked across an empty land. I knew the pathway like the back of my hand. I felt the earth beneath my feet. Sat by the river and it made me complete."
Jade returned the smile and joined him singing in a slowly, steady voice, "Oh simple thing where have you gone? I'm getting old and I need something to rely on. So tell me when you're gonna let me in. I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin."
Jade continued on her own, "I came across a fallen tree. I felt the branches of it looking at me. Is this the place we used to love? Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?"
Jonathan joined her, "Oh simple thing where have you gone? I'm getting old and I need something to rely on. So tell me when you're gonna let me in. I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin."
They picked up the volume and passion, "And if you have a minute why don't we go? Talk about it somewhere only we know? This could be the end of everything. So why don't we go? Somewhere only we know?"
The quieted as they looked into each other's eyes, "Somewhere only we know?"
The younger Benson continued on his own and turned to the rest of the restaurant, "Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on."
Jade turned her gaze to the other patrons, briefly making eye contact with several as she sang on her own, "So tell me when you're gonna let me in. I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin."
They joined together again to finish, picking up the tempo and volume before finishing softly at the end, "And if you have a minute why don't we go. Talk about it somewhere only we know? This could be the end of everything. So why don't we go? So why don't we go? Somewhere only we know? Somewhere only we know? Somewhere only we know?"
The entire establishment clapped with a number jumping to their feet and whooping in praise.
The duet turned to one another and bowed then Jonathan took Jade's hand and raised it above them while he too another bow to direct all the attention to her.
As they continued to get their well-deserved applause, Cat noticed her ex-boyfriend's reaction and quietly asked him, "Dusty?"
The Southern teenager distractedly asked while he focused on the pair, "What?"
Freddie turned and looked to his friend with curiosity.
Cat answered with a question, "Why are you crying?"
Dusty knotted his brow and glanced to his ex-girlfriend. He dabbed his right cheek with the pad of his middle finger and felt the dampness of a rolling tear before glancing at the wet spot on his finger. He quickly wiped the tears and answered, "It's a moving song and we know how well Jade can sing."
Freddie quickly agreed as to not allow anyone from suggesting another reason that could embarrass his friend, "Right, my girl's the best." He looked to Cat and quickly added, "You know what I mean Cat."
The former redhead nodded in understanding. She was number one in Robbie's eyes and Tori was number one in Beck's eyes.
The professional singer and the inspiring one stepped off the stage and headed back to the table. Jade stopped by Freddie to place a kiss on his cheek before rounding around him to retake her seat beside Ian.
"That was fun," Jonathan laughed as he retook his seat.
"And you were great," Shelby followed up. "That was quite the surprise."
"I'm hoping that I can one day impress some record executives as much as we did this crowd."
The brunette Tori look-alike answered with a gentle laugh, "You might do that before you know. Half those videos will be online by the end of the night. Someone's bound to notice you."
Dusty pointed out a hard truth, "And the word might finally be let out that Freddie has siblings when they realize that your last name is Benson and they start asking the obvious questions."
Sam sarcastically remarked before taking a sip of her drink, "Yeah, they find out that there's another one of him. What the world needed."
If Jade had been sitting on the opposite side of Ian, she would have kicked the former juvenile delinquent, so Sam was luckily spared from her retaliation.
Jonathan regretfully sighed, "Dad's not going to like that."
Dusty lazily remarked, "He's going to have to face the truth eventually and not stick his head in the sand."
The younger Benson gave him a look to show that he was mildly offended by the comment.
The former Northridge student rolled his eyes and clarified, hoping to get into the real heart of the situation, "Look, you don't have to get all hung up just because you two share blood through your father, because that's what this is about. A very, very wise man once told my father, 'family doesn't end in blood'…" He glanced to Jade and Ian and just held a gaze with a hint of a smile for several seconds.
The musician smiled at understanding and wrapped an arm behind and around Ian's shoulders and leaned to the side to place a kiss on the crown of his head to the child's oblivious attention while he enjoyed his dessert.
Dusty turned his head to look back and Jonathan and continued with a slight shake of his head, "…but it doesn't start there either. Brothers, sisters—family cares about you. Family is there for you and you for them, for the good, bad—especially the bad, all of it. They got your back, even when it hurts. That's family. It's your choice to ever acknowledge Freddie as your brother or really be his brother in that manner, but it's not your choice to have a 'personal truth' about whether you have the same father. I'm certainly not going to humor you in thinking otherwise."
Jonathan shared a stare with Dusty for several seconds, contemplating his words then looked to Freddie.
The former tech-producer met the stare with a guarded expression, not revealing much of his feelings on the matter.
The others in the meantime darted looks back and forth between the half-brothers, wonder what each was thinking and what would happen next.
However, after several seconds, they decided to break eye contact and return their attention to finishing up their food without a word.
The evening slowly wound down with the group sharing more stories and happenstances over the last few weeks that they may have missed at their other get togethers. Shelby filled them in on what she had been up to including some matches they may have missed. The rest of the patrons had started filtering out of the restaurant as the group enjoyed themselves. Ian starting to yawn on a regular basis further indicating that it was getting late and that they should be heading on their way.
After the last story, getting their checks and noticing that they were nearly the last ones still in the establishment, Shelby stood up and started thanking the others at the pushed together tables, "It was great hanging with you guys, but it's getting late and I could use some beauty sleep."
Freddie readily smiled and replied, "It was great that you could make it. It was great seeing you and catching up."
Shelby turned a sexy smile to him in thanks then walked around the table and gave a little peck on the cheek to Ian, her finding him just so adorable. He accepted the kiss as she was just as sweet and nice as Tori, but he was still so confused how she could look identical to Tori without being sisters.
"You take care little guy."
"Bye Shelly."
Shelby beamed a smile at his inability to pronounce her name. She looked to Jade and the pair shared a quick hug.
"Good to see you too," Jade whispered before pulling apart.
As the girls exchanged goodbyes, Freddie motioned his head toward Shelby with a gaze to Jonathan.
Jonathan threw Freddie a questionable gaze which the older Benson motioned his eyes towards the fighter than back to him. He got the message then turned a smiled towards Shelby and offered, "I'll give you a ride home?"
Shelby turned and beamed a smile to him. "I would love that. I took a cab, so…"
"Okay."
The lovely brunette looped her arm around Jonathan, much to his surprise.
Freddie waved at the duo as they departed. As soon as Jonathan turned his back to them, Shelby mouthed to Freddie, "Thank you."
The former tech-producer smirked and winked.
When the pair passed the entrance, Sam looked to her former victim and questioned, "Wow, you really just set your brother up?"
Freddie lazily answered, "I more set up Shelby."
"Why?
"She was interested in him. Why not do her a favor?"
"Favor? I didn't know you hated her that much."
Freddie rolled his eyes and Jade glared at the blonde and snipped, "You know your jokes haven't been funny since iCarly ended."
Sam bit her tongue and returned the stare.
Dusty grinned and pointed out, "Maybe she's hoping that lightning will strike twice for a Benson. You wanted to date him at one point, so you have to see the appeal. That's how we all got here in the first place. He can't be that bad."
The dirty blonde turned an angry glare to Dusty and he easily answered, "Keep staring at me and you'll make me start thinking you want something inappropriate from me."
Sam took in a sharp breath and resisted the urge to smack him upside the head because she wasn't eager to be punched through a wall.
Jade held back a chuckled and flicked her brow up at the exchange before looking to her stepbrother and stated the obvious, "Okay, it's definitely time for us to go. You're about to doze off."
Usually his was the first to argue about nap time, especially as he was having a good time with his sister's friends, but he didn't have the energy. She was about to pick him up, but Freddie stepped in to pick him up from the seat and held in his arm right arm. Ian naturally rested against Freddie's chest and used his shoulder as a pillow because Jade was right that he was about to fall asleep.
Jade reached in her wallet and pulled out a few bills to leave a generous tip on the table for the waiters.
Cat and Robbie laced fingers after standing up. The former redhead happily stated, clearly excited to spend a little more time
"We're going to go ahead and go."
Sam tried not to make a face as she was not looking forward to becoming a third wheel for the rest of the evening in their apartment even if they each retired to separate rooms. The only redeeming thing was that she didn't hear them getting physical in the next room.
Dusty nudged Sam again in the ribs and remarked, "I don't sleep anymore, so… you want to go howl at the moon for a bit?"
"Are you going to get me into some trouble?"
The handsome teenager grinned before remarking, "Hopefully something that won't get us arrested."
Sam patted Ian on the back and assured him, "We'll see you on Monday kid."
Ian smiled to the fun loving blonde as his eyelids became heavy.
Cat joined with a quick peck on the child's cheek then as a group, they headed out of the establishment to go their separate ways for the night.
In Route to Shelby Marx
The ride was relatively quiet back to Shelby's place. The professional fighter, always so confident in everything she did, felt a nervous tension run through her. Jonathan looked just as nervous being alone with the lovely brunette even though the pair traded the occasional smile.
However, Shelby was always up for a challenge and stated, "It's not hard to figure out that Freddie had other motives for calling me tonight."
Jonathan cleared his throat and answered with the obvious explanation, "That he was having us met to set us up?"
"I asked him for a number, but this was one better."
He questioned with a flicked eyebrow, "Why? You don't know me."
Shelby leaned closed to Jonathan and whispered, "You never asked one of your friends whether they had a sister if he's snagged a girl that you've shown interest?"
Jon embarrassingly smiled, one that Shelby found fairly cute, and answered, "You're right. It's only natural to ask the question. I'm just really flattered."
The professional fighter patiently smiled and attempted to assure him, "I know that you aren't on board with the idea that Freddie's your brother, but… maybe I was hoping that wouldn't you put off any of his suggestions."
Jonathan was still a little surprised by the girl's forwardness. He wasn't sure how he felt that she was looking at him because he was Freddie's brother, but it was certainly a change in pace for him with the girls from New York and the others he had met at school.
Silence descended in the car for a second time as Shelby allowed him to think about her words. She knew she was coming on strong and that could intimidate a number of guys due to her background and perhaps traditional gender roles, but she wasn't looking for a player or an easy lay.
The traffic was fairly light by this time at night, so the pair didn't have to endure the nervousness for too long as Jonathan pulled into the driveway of the two-story home and brought his car to a stop.
Shelby half smiled and remarked, "We're here. Thank you for the evening and ride. It was fun hanging out."
He politely smiled and answered, "Yes it was. It was an enjoyable evening. It was nice to meet you."
The pair exchanged looks for several seconds, but Shelby could tell that they were at an impasse. She gave him another smile before looking in the opposite direction and opened her passenger door. Jonathan, ever trying to be the gentleman his father raised, stepped out of the vehicle with her. She smiled from the other side of the car and started on her way to the front door. He met up with her at the end of the vehicle and walked with her up to the door of her home.
They reached the front door and Shelby turned to her escort and sweetly smiled to him, thanking him for joining her.
Jonathan felt an odd sense of guilt while looking at the professional fighter. His mind couldn't help but think of Tori at the moment of looking at Shelby, practically identical faces, but a different girl.
The front porch light came on above the pair's head, causing them to naturally glance up at the light. The MMA fighter laughed then quickly explained with a shy smile, "That would probably be my grandmother. She still worries about me."
The younger Benson son nervously laughed, "It's good to have family."
She playfully punched his shoulder as she joked, "Yeah, you moved thousands of miles away and found some you didn't even know existed."
Jonathan smile tightened, but tried his best not to show that it was sore point for him.
Shelby instantly saw that she had said the wrong thing, so she quickly moved on from the potential stumbling block, "Thank you again for the ride."
"You're welcome."
"I'll see you around. That offer's still good about training with us. It's Punchy's Gym in Venice. Just drop my name and they'll let you right in. You'll be my guest. We'll be there Tuesday afternoon, somewhere between three-thirty and four."
"Thank yo—"
He was cut off with a quick peck to the cheek. He looked momentarily stunned while she answered with a devilish grin. She turned and slipped her key into the lock, but the door opened to reveal a silver haired elderly woman, happy to see her granddaughter. She passed a weary glance to the young man, but a kiss on the cheek and a whisper in her ear by her granddaughter brought a smile to her. The granddaughter and grandmother spared the teenager another glance the shut the door behind them.
Jonathan whistled out a breath as he turned and headed back to his car wondering what his brother—Freddie—had just gotten him into and whether he should upset or happy.
Roy West Residence
Los Angeles, CA
The '69 Charger pulled into the driveway of the upper end two-story home as the time ticked past ten-thirty. Freddie put the vehicle into part and Jade opened the door and stepped out of her seat then put it down to reach Ian. He had already fallen asleep on their ride over, so she quietly unbuckled Ian's seat and struggled for a moment to pick up. He was starting to get heavy for her, but she managed to pull him into her arms and not bump either of their heads on the roof of the muscle car.
She straightened up and held him close, allowing him to use her right shoulder as a pillow. She turned to face Freddie who had rounded the front of the car to take him. She regretfully handed him over, but not before placing a kiss on his temple.
Freddie accepted him into his arms without disturbing the child then the couple headed for the front door.
Jade tapped the doorbell and moments later, the door opened to reveal the second Mrs. West. She immediately threw on a surprised with a hint of disapproving expression as she questioned the obvious, "Jade? Why are you here?"
Jade easily smiled to her stepmother and answered, "Hello. Cat's spending the evening with Robbie and it wasn't really safe for Sam to bring him home at night, so we offered to bring him home."
The trophy wife suspiciously eyed Jade for a few seconds before accepting Ian from Freddie.
Jade gently brushed over Ian's forehead and crown to brush his hair off his forehead. "Night little gu—"
The fairly young mother turned away from Jade in a near jerking motion to get the dark haired teenager's hand off Ian's forehead. "We'll see you later Jade," she spoke with a barely held tolerance to the musician before closing the door in her face.
Jade's eyes grew to near saucers then in an instant she was filled with a blinding rage. She looked like she was about to kick the door down, but Freddie delicately grabbed her wrist, stopping her from doing something rash.
"It's okay. He knows. He knows."
The dark haired young woman took several breaths to calm her nerves then licked her lips and nodded her head. She spun and headed back to the car with Freddie stepping close and running his hand up her back then reassuringly rubbed up and down her upper right arm.
The ride home was quiet and tense for the young couple as Jade tried to internalize her anger. He knew something had to give and give soon before something really caused a break.
Jonathan Benson's Apartment
Just off the UCLA Campus
Los Angeles, CA
Jonathan opened the door to his apartment then quickly closed and locked it behind him. He flipped on the light switch to light the living room then dropped his keys in his little tray on the kitchen counter. He headed for his bedroom, ready to hit the bed for the evening. He poked his head into the bedroom to turn the lights on then double backed to turn the living room light off.
He unbuttoned his button plaid shirt then tossed it on the back of his desk chair. He stopped by his dresser drawer and reached into it to grab a muscle shirt. He hastily changed undershirt and tossed the article onto his chair with his chair and discarded his jeans on the chair just as quickly onto the chair after slipping out of his sneakers.
He flopped on his bed and turned on his television. He flipped through a few channels, but nothing particularly interested him. He glanced over to his laptop and a thought occurred to him. He slid off the bed and picked it up the fell back onto the bed. He scooted backwards to brace his back against the headboard then woke his laptop up.
The inspiring musician opened up a browser window and brought up his PearChat. He glanced to see if a particular person he recently added to his list was online. He smirked when he saw that she was online. He sent a request to her and waited for a reply.
The request was accepted and the very lovely face of Tori Vega appeared on the screen. He let a soft breath escape past his lips and tiredly, but warmly greeted her, "Hey, I know it's late, but I wanted to ah… I guess tell you face to face that everything went fine for the night."
"No, it's fine. I don't mind at all. I actually appreciate the call. I'm happy that Sam's alright."
"Yeah, she made that jump without a problem. It was actually kind of spectacular to see."
"I know Cat can breathe a sigh of relief. So how was the celebration?"
Jonathan knotted a brow and questioned, "Celebration?"
"I read Cat's tweets after the jump that everyone would be going out."
Jonathan grinned and licked his lips. "So you really didn't need me calling you to let you know what happened."
"No, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the call."
"You're welcome again."
"So how was it?"
"It was fine. Nozu is an interesting place. I honestly don't care much about the food, but the company was great. Jade and I sang a duet. She said it'll probably be on the web before the night is out."
"It is Jade and she has a loyal fanbase. I'll check out some of the videos later. People will be wondering who are you are pretty soon."
"I'm kind of concerned about that."
"Why?
"Because they're going to find out who I am… Jonathan Benson. People will ask the obvious question whether there is any relation between me and Freddie."
"And you're not ready to deal with that?"
"I've already dealt with it."
Tori raised an eyebrow and softly asked, "Jon?"
"I don't want to call my father a liar. He's my dad. He's always been there for me. He's never lied or deceived me."
"I love my dad too and as mad as I am with my mother, I love her too, but I can't deny reality about the situation that happened with my parents and you can't deny it either even if your father wants to. Freddie's your brother. You have a brother."
Jonathan took a deep breath and contemplated her words and Dusty's words earlier in the night for probably half a minute before he admitted, "I'll talk to Freddie about it the next time I see him and see if we can't work out… this."
The brunette brightened at the news. "Good." She left it at that for the brothers to work out Jon's apprehension and mixed feelings with the situation and asked, "How was the rest of the night?"
"It turned out interesting. Your friend Dusty has the gift for storytelling. Jade's little brother certainly enjoyed his story tonight. He really should go into writing in some form."
Tori flashed an uncomfortable smile and commented, "He certainly does."
Jonathan caught the unmistakable change in her expression and jokingly questioned, "What? Are you going to tell me that there is some truth behind them?"
The brunette gently bit her lower lip then answered with a slightly apprehensive manner, "Let's just say that his stories always have a grain of truth in there somewhere."
Jonathan let out a hearty and let his head lull back to the headboard.
The pop star knotted her brow and put on a near pout with her mouth. "What?"
The freshman calmed his laughing and answered, "How is there a grain of truth in him meeting each of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse while he was 'traveling'?"
"Okay, I haven't heard that story yet, but…"
Jonathan burst out laughing louder, struggling to slip in a few words between laughs, "That's a… a good one… Tori."
The pop star playfully smiled and commented, "I did a little comedy while at Hollywood Arts."
"You did have me going there for a second."
Tori let a tight smile remain on her face, hoping that he wouldn't put the pieces together of such a strange, unknown story to her, and Dusty's sudden return with what had become a fairly publicized miracle linked to Tori's name.
Fortunately, he didn't seem to put the pieces together and remarked, "I think the most interesting part of the night was that Freddie tried to set me up with a girl."
Tori blinked, stunned by the news. She stuttered without actually speaking any words before she was able to form syllables, "Freddie tried to set you up? With who? Do I know her?"
"Yeah and you kind of have a connection to her."
"Who?"
"Shelby Marx."
Tori's face expressed further shock. "Shelby? You met Shelby?"
"Yes, she's quite the… assertive person. Sweet and nice, don't get me wrong, but she definitely knows what she wants and isn't afraid to say it."
The brunette cautiously asked, "And Freddie really tried to play matchmaker with Shelby?"
"It looks that way." He sighed, "She was interested in me because I was Freddie's brother."
The dark haired pop star quietly answered as if she was stating a trivial fact, "Oh… that's understandable."
Jonathan raised an eyebrow and softly challenged, "It is?"
Tori grinned and slightly tilted her head to the side. "Freddie is a good catch for any girl and since he's already taken…"
The younger Benson nodded along and sighed out, "Shelby gave the same explanation. The old 'does he/she have a brother/sister thing?'"
"It's true. I mean if things were different, I could see myself interested in you."
Jonathan swallowed down his disbelief as his eyes bulged. "Really?"
Tori's cheeks blushed and sputtered, "Yeah, you know, ah… hypothetically."
The younger Benson brother saw that she was near having a panic attack, so he hoped that is next words would distract her, "And it would be because I was Freddie's brother and you missed out on him?"
"No, no, not really. It's just that it would be likely that you and he shared a lot of those attractive qualities that one would see in Freddie—and it's true. You're a sweet, nice guy that's also handsome, intelligent, confident and strong, the things I and a lot of girls find appealing. It's hard to strike that balance."
He answered back a little bashfully, not feeling as confident as she suggested, "Oh, okay. Thanks, I'm flattered."
"You're welcome." She curiously asked, mildly confused as she saw it as something natural for girls and guys to try to hook up their friends, "Do you blame him for trying?"
"He was doing it more as a favor to her than to me," he wearily answered with a roll of his eyes.
"He may have, but he wouldn't have done that unless he thought you might like her too. It's just how he thinks."
"So you're defending him for kind of ambushing me?"
Tori's face brightened up and took his question as a joke. "What is there to 'defend'? Your brother tried to hook you up with a pretty girl and I wouldn't call it an ambush when you were with part of the group. I've ambushed my sister with a guy and it was nothing like you had tonight, so don't be mad at him or anything."
"Okay, I won't get upset or anything and I wouldn't disagree that she is a pretty girl, but…"
"But what?"
"It is kind of weird seeing such a pretty face that I spoke with last night then to see it again on another person."
Tori pursed her lips and eyebrows flew up.
Jonathan realized he may have crossed a line and quickly added, "I'm sorry. I think I might have been out of line with that."
"No, it's okay. I've heard plenty of people tell me that I'm pretty or this or that, but it's nice to hear it from someone that actually means it. I'm the one that already embarrassed herself."
"I'm the one flattered and Beck is fortunate to have you."
Tori put on an uncomfortable expression and answer with what sounded like a regretful tone, "Yeah… he's lucky… I'm lucky."
The younger teenager slightly tilted his head and directed a softly questioning expression while trying to discern her apprehension in agreeing with him. He set it aside for the moment, assuming that it had to be she was just tired. It was already late for him and he was feeling the affects and she was three hours ahead of him.
"I don't mean to cut you off, but it's getting late for me and I'm beat and don't take offense, but you look tired too and there is the time difference."
Tori shook her head and let out a soft giggle, feeling momentarily relief from the awkwardness she felt moments ago. "No, it's okay. I've kept you too long. You get a good night's sleep and have a nice rest of the weekend and I'll talk to you again later."
Jonathan smiled and answered, "You too. I'll talk to you later."
The brunette gave him a wink then ended clicked off the video feed.
He looked back at the screen for a few seconds before he shut the laptop down and started his routine for bed. It took him a while before he could get that good night's sleep with the same lovely face on two girls rattling in his mind.
Hale Residence
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Dean Hale was a very happy man at the moment. He had his array of snacks laid across the coffee table, an ice cold beer, his seat comfortable, his cellphone set only for emergency calls and his flat screen set for the game about to start in ten minutes. He couldn't have been happier… until the doorbell rang.
He sighed loudly then got up from his seat and headed for the front door. He reached into the umbrella holder next to the door and pulled out his double-barrel sawed-off shotgun. He took a quick peek through the peephole and paused, surprised to see who was standing on the other side. He quickly put away the shotgun and opened the door.
Mister Hale gave a surprised yet pleasant smile to the teenager as he greeted her, "Heather?"
The model carrying a laptop carrying case on her shoulder and across her front bashfully smiled and answered in return, "Hello Mister Hale. Is Dustin home?"
"No, he's ah—"
The raven hair colored girl sighed out and glanced to her feet, "Good, it would be kind awkward to see him."
The ruggedly handsome man knotted his brow and questioned, "It would? Isn't that why you would be here?"
Heather gently bit into her bottom lip gloss covered lip then bashfully answered, "No, I actually wanted to talk to you."
Mister Hale's eyebrows shot up and asked, "Me?"
"Yes."
"Oh, okay. About what?"
"Can I come in?"
Mister Hale embarrassingly smiled and stepped aside to let her pass the threshold. "Oh, sorry, yes of course. Come on in."
Upon stepping inside, Heather immediately noticed the spread on the coffee table and directed a curious look to the patriarch.
"I was just getting ready to watch the game," he explained and locked the door behind him.
She looked to him with an apologetic expression and stated, "I'm sorry to interrupt. I can go—"
"No, it's okay. It must be important if you're here."
"It is, but… probably not what you think."
"So this really isn't about Dusty?"
Heather glanced to the floor and answered, "No, I was hoping that you could help me with something professionally?"
Mister Hale immediately struck with curiosity about how he could help her. In addition, he thought about the wisdom of helping her in light of his son's breakup with the model. However, it wasn't much of a debate for him. He had always liked the girl and his son still loved her even if they were broken up. "Ah sure, about what?"
"Are you sure? You know with what happened between me and—"
Hale gave her a fatherly smile and answered, "It's fine. I'm more than happy to help. What happened between you and Dusty is between you two. I know he'd get mad at me for telling you no."
Heather returned with a look debating the validity of such a statement, but Mister Hales charming smile—something that she knew quite well that Dusty had inherited from his father—and just the general character of the Hales told her it was the truth. It just made the situation all the bittersweet.
"Thank you Mister Hale."
"No sweat. So, how can I help you?"
"You know, I've been trying to get into acting for a while and there's this role coming up for a pilot that I was interested in auditioning for, but I need your help."
"I don't know anything about Hollywood. Wouldn't talking to all those kids that went to Hollywood Arts with Dusty be your best bet? Aren't you friends with them too? I don't think they're all out of town."
"Yes we're still friends and I know only Tori is in New York and I could go to any of them for help, but it's the subject mattered that I need help on. I don't want to walk in there and not know a thing about what my character would be about."
"And how could I possibly help you?"
"But you know classic Rock."
Mister Hale blinked, unsure if he had heard her correctly. "What?"
Heather paused, slightly bashful to talk about her plans, but continued nevertheless, "The part I'm auditioning for is about a girl that a lead singer in a rock band that reunites with her father who is a washed up rock star to re-launch his career. I'm confident enough about my acting, but my musical background is in contemporary music—rock, pop and R and B, not the classics. The modern stuff will be no problem, but I need a crash course about the classics and you're the one I thought of that I know that could help me the most."
Mister Hale was momentarily taken aback by the request then a confident smile formed on his face. He answered a little smugly, "You've certainly come to the right person. I can help you with everything you need to know."
"Are you sure? It wouldn't be… awkward?" She glanced at the television to see that the game as about to start. "I don't want to interrupt your afternoon."
The blue collar worker maintained his smile as he walked over to the coffee table. He quickly hit the button for his DVR
He walked over to the coffee table and picked up a beer and one of the bowls of snacks. "Grab a bowl and follow me to have your mind blown. I'll teach everything I know about Rock and Roll."
Heather felt a wave of comfort fill her. She grabbed a bowl of chips and followed the head of the household past the living room to a back bedroom that was turned into a practical man-cave. She had never been to this part of the house from her visits with Dusty.
Mister Hale proudly introduced, "This is my man-cave… even if the whole house is our man-cave."
The inspiring actress took a moment to assess the room. It was dominated with shades of brown with a matching brown leather couch with small coffee table in front of it, and a matching recliner pushed to the opposite wall to the entrance. There was another television with an impressive sound system against the wall with the entrance. On the adjacent right wall, there were several rows of shelves with records in at least two of them and a turntable. Above the shelves were a number of pictures and to the far left side there was a locked cabinet.
Mister Hale offered her while sitting his beer and bowl down on the coffee table, "I'll grab you a soda."
"Thank you," she answered with a glance over her shoulder.
As soon as he left, Heather dropped the snacks she was carrying on the coffee table and turned to the rows of shelves. She looked around the room, fascinated with Mister Hale's inner sanctum. She slowly walked in front of the row of records, letting her finger tips brush against the spines. They wouldn't tell her the name of any of the particular records, but by the extensive collection, it proved that Mister Hale was a well versed on the subject as she believed. She stopped momentarily in front of the high-end silver turntable, seeing that he perhaps listened to them on a regular basis.
The model's eyes drifted upwards as she passed the records to glance at the pictures. She immediately recognized the extended family of the Hale family including the Thompsons and Campbells: Dusty's Grandfather Bobby and Grandmother Ellen—not by blood, his Uncle Sam and Aunt Amelia and Cousin Mary, his Aunt Jo and Aunt Gwen and the odd picture of his father and uncle standing with the woman that the world currently knew as Felicia Day. There were other pictures of Dusty's mother's side of the family: his mother of course with her distinctive red hair, the loose tie and overcoat wearing uncle with the perpetual five o'clock shadow and the goofy grinned uncle that was the trickster of the family. There was another picture with Mister Hale, a woman and teenage boy that she didn't recognize.
The picture enticed her curiosity as she had never seen them during any family get together, but the pair clearly meant something to Mister Hale. She was obviously aware that Dusty's parents were never had a long-term commitment, but she wasn't aware of any significant previous relationships of his father.
Heather moved further down the shelves to another set of records. She stopped when she saw similar display cases that she had seen in Dusty's room. She saw the same type of tapered silver blade but missing the leather wrapping around the handle that Dusty possessed and used to display in his room. However, there was something strange that caught her eye about the second display. Inside the glass display, there looked to be a rusty colored object looking like half a jaw bone of some large animal with several teeth still attached to the back side of the curved blade shape with a distinct black leather wrapped handle which would have been the hinge of the jaw.
She raised her hand to press her fingertips to the glass, the curiosity towards it being overwhelming, but Mister Hale's voice called out, "Hey."
The model turned and looked to Mister Hale with a caught expression like her hand was stuck in the cookie jaw. She cleared her throat and motioned to the glass display case and bashfully uttered, "It's an interesting piece. It reminds me of the jawbone from the stories of Samson."
Mister Hale cracked a half smile and laughed as he approached her with her glass in hand, "Yeah, it's an interesting piece. It ah… used to belong to an old beekeeper."
The young woman made a face to show her confusion. "Oh, that sounds pretty odd that a beekeeper would have something like that."
He laughed in return, "You're right, it doesn't make for a very good flyswatter."
Heather let out a soft giggle and took the Peppy-Cola he offered her.
"Okay, you want to learn all there is to rock and roll…" He turned to the shelf and pulled a record from the shelf and turn to the record player to place it on the player.
As Mister Hale was setting the record up to play, Heather walked over to the couch and pulled out her laptop from her bag. She sat it on the table and opened up, readying to start taking notes.
Mister Hale glanced over his shoulder as he pulled a record from its sleeve before placing it on the turntable. "What are you doing?"
She answered with an anxious voice, "I'm taking notes?"
He finished setting the record on the player then walked over and politely closed the laptop then sat down. "It's not something you take notes on or study; it's something you have to feel, to embrace."
"Mister Hale, I can feel music. I know current music. I could tell you the history of most music going back the last twenty-five years, but I need to be able to intelligently talk about this genre. I'm going to have to crash study."
He sighed and patiently smiled. "Okay, let me do it my way first then we can go back and you can take as many notes as you want. We have all afternoon if you have it."
"I do. Thank you Mister Hale."
He reassuringly and good naturedly smiled answering, "Don't mention it." He took a quick stride to the turntable and moved the needle over the record while stating, "We're going to start with my personal favorite, Led Zeppelin."
The moment the diamond tip touched the record, music started filling the room.
The time was ticking towards five o'clock that afternoon when the door to the kitchen opened and Dusty called out, "Dad, I'm back." The sound of classic rock filled his ears, immediately causing him to involuntarily start tapping his feet to the beat. He thought it was strange since he expected his father to be watching the games this afternoon. He headed to the back of the house and immediately stopped at the entranceway of his father's man-cave. He failed to hide his surprise at seeing Heather sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table with her laptop open and nodding her head to the rocking beat coming from the speakers.
Mister Hale was the first to notice his son and reached over to the player to turn it off.
Heather called out in surprise, "Why did you turn it off?" She noticed her host's expression then twisted to her left to see Dusty standing at the doorway.
The former couple locked eyes with one another and awkward tension immediately filled the room.
"Ah, hey," Dusty muttered with a bashful smile.
Heather timidly smiled in return and answered in a hushed voice, "Hey."
Mister Hale glanced back and forth between the couple, feeling he was about to watch a slow-motion car wreck.
He absently questioned, "What's with the visit?"
The very dark haired teenager glanced to Mister Hale for a fraction of a second then looked back to her ex to answer, "Your dad was helping me get familiar the history of Rock."
Mister Hale took a quick sip from his beer and heartily laughed, "Oh yeah, we've been going over all the greats: Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Metallica, Lynyrd Skynyrd and on and on…"
Dusty raised an eyebrow, clearly confused why his father and ex-girlfriend would do such a thing. "Why?"
Heather bashfully answered, "I'm auditioning for a pilot and the character is this rock and roll girl who's kind of a throwback to music, but trying to make her own style out of it. I needed to know about the greats and history if I was going to be convincing for the audition."
Dusty looked momentarily stunned then replied in a stuttering fashion, "A pilot, that's ah… yeah, that's great—fantastic. I mean, you've come to the number one expert. If you need anything, just ah… let me know. I'll do anything I can to help."
The raven haired teenager slightly bowed her head and answered, "Thanks, I appreciate that."
The former couple exchanged looks again, unsure what to do next.
Heather broke the stalemate and glanced at her phone to notice the time. "I didn't realize how late it was. I need to get going."
Dusty raised his hands and hastily offered, "Don't let me interrupt. I can head right back out."
The model stood up and answered, "No, it's okay. I've taken up too much of your dad's time."
Mister Hale spoke up, "It's not a problem. I have a lot more to cover if you have the time."
"Thank you. I'll give you a call to find out when it's convenient for you."
"Not a problem."
Dusty popped up, "I'll make myself scarce if you need that."
"No, you don't have to take off because of me." She softly bit into her lip, realizing how she could have hit a sore spot between them.
He picked up the unintended reference and grinned to attempt to hide any prick from the reference.
Heather quickly looked to her PearBook to avoid his gaze and tapped a few keys on it to set it to hibernate then closed it. She slipped it back into laptop bag then stood up to pull the strap over her head to cross over her chest. She looked to the patriarch and warmly smiled. "Thank you again for all your help Mister Hale. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it."
He charmingly smiled and answered, "Don't mention it."
Heather looked to Dusty and timidly commented, "I'll see you later."
"Right, later. Take care."
The professional model bashfully smiled to him one last time then saw herself out of the room and home.
Mister Hale looked to his son and spoke with near flabbergasted voice, "Seriously, you have to tell her the truth. I know she'd be willing to give it another shot if she knew the truth."
Dusty regretfully whispered as he remained focused on the exit Heather had just passed through, "That's what I'm afraid of."
Author's Note: Isn't Jon the center of attention by two very lovely—and nearly identical—looking ladies? Oh, to have his problems. You may have recognized Shelby's outfit from a recent photoshoot of Victoria where she's holding a 'No Parking' sign and hitchhiking. Things look like they could be coming to a head with Jade and Ian's storyline, stay tune for that. Heather up for a familiar role for those that follow Elizabeth Gillies' career? I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. I hope to have the next one up by next Thursday.